About the Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a body of achievement in the costuming art and service to the costuming community. Candidates for the award:

Shall have been active in the costuming community for at least 10 years.

Shall have achieved significant recognition for their costuming skills, which may be in the form of, but not restricted to, competitive awards, professional accomplishments, teaching of skills, and/or media recognition.

Shall have made significant contributions in service to the costuming community.

The ICG President oversees the nomination and election process. Nominations can be made by any ICG member, chapter, or SIG in good standing, and are due no later than 60 days before the annual members meeting. ICG chapter presidents and the five elected officers vote on the nominations. Send nominations to laa-nomination@costume.org with “LAA Nomination” as the subject line.

Preparing a Nomination

Preparing an effective nomination takes time, so we strongly recommend starting as early as possible. Past recipient citations were based on information provided in their nominations.

Here are some tips for preparing a nomination:

Not all chapter presidents and officers who vote on the award are familiar with the person you are nominating. Give them a good understanding of your nominee’s qualifications and accomplishments.

Start with a one- or two-paragraph “executive summary” that addresses all the qualifications for the award. This is your best chance to make your case, so spend some quality time on this.

Follow that with some notable accomplishments that support what you said in your “executive summary.” A few well-chosen examples are usually enough.

Nominations typically run from several paragraphs to a full page (200-500 words). Quality is more important than quantity.

In 1988, costume fandom presented an award for lifetime achievement to Karen Anderson at the World Science Fiction Convention, Nolacon II (New Orleans). This was the first such award, ever. It is a forerunner of the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The highest honor the International Costumers’ Guild pays to costumers is its Lifetime Achievement Award. Beginning in 1990, the following costumers have received the Award for their contributions to the costuming community.

2017 – Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi

2016 – Lisa Ashton

2015 – Kathy Bushman Sanders

2014 – Ann Catelli

2013 – Dawn McKechnie

2013 – Tina Connell

2012 – Penny Lipman

2011 – Jill Eastlake

2010 – Bruce and Nora Mai

2009 – Bruce and Dana McDermott

2008 – Betsy Marks Delaney

2007 – Kevin Roche

2006 – Barb Schofield

2005 – Cat Devereaux

2004 – Ricky Dick

2004 – Pat Kennedy

2003 – Adrian Butterfield & Victoria Ridenour

2001 – Animal X

2000 – Pierre & Sandy Pettinger

1999 – Carl Mami

1998 – Gary Anderson

1997 – Jacqueline Ward

1996 – Byron Connell

1995 – Karen Schnaubelt (Dick)

1994 – Janet Wilson Anderson

1993 – Peggy Kennedy

1992 – Bjo & John Trimble

1991 – Marty Gear

1990 – Marji Ellers

Photos courtesy of Pierre & Sandy Pettinger, Bruce & Nora Mai, Elaine Mami, Carl Mami, John Upton, Richard Man, Jack Krolak, John Upton, Eric Brine, and the Costume-Con web page. Also big thanks to Kevin Roche for digging through his collection for pictures of Peggy. And an even bigger thanks and incredible gratitude to Karen Schnaubelt and Ricky Dick for providing a number of the bios for recipients.